Yorba Linda boy taking it to another level

To open that gift, the Yorba Linda boy will have to climb for two weeks while weathering temperatures close to, or below, zero degrees Fahrenheit. He expects the cold to make this climb particularly challenging compared with last year's summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, when at age 8 he became, as best the family can tell, the second youngest to make it to the top.

Tyler leaves today for Argentina with hopes of becoming the youngest person to summit Mount Aconcagua.

“If we're super lucky, at the top it will be 1 degree,” he said. “At the worse, it will be negative 20.”

His father, Kevin, an emergency medical technician, and their Nepalese guide will be with him every step of the way.

A personal trainer helped strengthen Tyler's back and abdominal muscles so he can carry a backpack of up to 12 pounds.

To learn the art of using ice axes and crampons, Tyler took winter ascent classes with REI at Mount Baldy.

At home, said his mother, Priscilla, Tyler is just like other boys his age. There are the regular fights with his younger brother, Dylan, and he enjoys blasting through his homework so he can have Nerf gun fights with his dad.

While her son and husband are gone, Priscilla Armstrong, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children's Hospital of Orange County, plans to have lots of dinners with friends and maybe take Dylan to Legoland.

“If something happens, I feel like I'm far away,” she said.

Kevin and Tyler Armstrong will take a 12- to 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile; Tyler intends to do homework on the plane. The two will then make their way to Mendoza, Argentina, where they will stay for about a week.

Dad and son will appear before a judge there, seeking to persuade Argentina's national parks administrators to issue Tyler his permit to climb. Under Argentine law, Tyler is too young to climb, so the attorney his parents hired must prove that he is physically and mentally capable.

Kevin Armstrong said the attorney is optimistic, because children just older than him have been allowed to climb. He said his son doesn't get altitude sickness, has the experience and training necessary, and understands the seriousness of the undertaking.

“I think it's ridiculous that people put age restrictions on things,” Kevin Armstrong said. “If they can do it, let them.”

He describes his son's demeanor on the trail as being mature but talkative.

The Armstrongs will start their hike at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. Pack mules, carrying their gear, will accompany them to the base camp, at 19,500 feet. They will establish two more camps before reaching the summit at 22,841 feet elevation before descending. In all, they will be on the mountain 14 to 18 days, depending on the weather.

According to Acon- caguaexpeditions.com, the youngest to summit Mount Aconcagua until now has been a 10-year-old American in 2008.

Tyler and his dad will miss a Yorba Linda Christmas, but Tyler just smiled at the thought.

“Most things kids get for Christmas, they play with it for five seconds and say, ‘I don't need it anymore,'” he said.